V On the Bubble: Keep Or Cut?

By mid-May, broadcast TV bigwigs will be making tough calls as to which shows will return for the 2011-12 season, and which won’t. To complement TVLine’s “Renew Our Show!” Bracket Tournament, we’re singling out select “bubble” shows to survey their prospects. The latest series entering our orbit: ABC’s V.

THE CASE FOR KEEPING: There is a compelling TV series to be made about an alien race visiting Earth, ostensibly coming “in peace” yet secretly beholding a nefarious agenda. V, ultimately, could be it, based on the Season 2 finale’s decision to dispatch wholesale with some problematic (or simply annoying) characters and extraneous story elements. FBI agent Erica Evans (played by Elizabeth Mitchell), once blandly diplomatic but newly enraged by the needless death of her ex, should only be more brazen in her counterattacks once she realizes that her son Tyler was turned into an afterglow appetizer by Anna’s (other) daughter. Speaking of the V queen’s offspring, maybe I’m simply a sucker for the Evil Twin gimmick (and/or the idea of Double the Vandervoort!), but giving Anna a malevolent “Lisa 2.0″ to replace her sadly humanized predecessor should ratchet up the nasty, provided they do what you are supposed to do with Evil Twins: Play the ol’ switcheroo, lots! One more undeniable arrow in V‘s quiver: Morena Baccarin, whose icy-cold composure as she deals with us pesky humans does send chills down a spine. Let’s just get Anna out of that sterile, CGI’d mothership more often (even if it means depositing her in the show’s unconvincing rendering of “New York City”).

THE CASE FOR CUTTING:Some argue that V progresses too slowly. But as I watched these last few weeks, I became of the opinion that its biggest liabilty is an inclination to move things along too fast. That “compelling series” I alluded to early on? I see it as meticulously plotting and building up to the Visitors’ invasion plan, rather than uncork it in a hurried Season 2. Oh, and then there’s the science! Reaper‘s Bret Harrison was brought on board as an all-purpose bio-physics-geology whiz whose primary job was one of impossible exposition, babbling on about phosporous levels, human-V DNA splicing and what not. (Again, that info-dump was likely a result of the shortened episode order for this sophomore run, but still — my head, spinning.) Now, I’m not even going to touch upon newsman Chad Decker’s indecipherable agenda, Father Jack’s meandering crisis of faith, or the criminal underuse of Jane Badler’s Diana. But as expressed above, there is a new hope for V now that the eunich-like Fifth Column has been splintered and replaced by Marc Singer’s obviously well-funded Project Ares, and Erica has gotten her badass on.

Hit the comments section to make your own case for keeping or cutting V.

This. The misuse and death of Diana was criminal. She needs to be resurrected and go on a full on B!+¢# queen rampage.

If the show is given a second-second chance, they need to tighten up the writing. This means neither rushing nor meandering. We need content that has stakes and consequences and emotional context. This season largely had none of this.

V was rushed in the first season in that the agenda and adoption of the visitors was near instant – then for a year and a half the “resistance” has largely done nothing and Anna could just move apace a she saw fit. There needs to be a call to arms and context to our world today.

There needs to be the “The visitors are not our friends” moment. There needs to be the “we packed you in a suitcase” moment. There need to be more moments to make this memorable – and honestly – will we remember any episode of V 2.0 ten years from now?

And for god sakes the visitors need to stop calling themselves the visitors or the Vs. This is an external concept – human to visitor. The visitors would not dialogue about themselve self referentially about being Visitors or Vs.

Please Keep this show!! It’s had an uphill battle from the very beginning, and is so relentless that it’s still plugging along. After one more season if it’s not working than fine, but at least give it a chance to shine!

KEEP! While I agree it was slow at first, the last four episodes were amazing! The finale was unbelievable – Diana’s death, Lisa’s possibly killing of Tyler, the new underground agency…BRING IT BACK!!!

If V is cut, I will skin my own body. Then ABC will be responsible for the death of a fan and have no choice but to admit how brilliant and flawless V is, giving it not only a third season but lots of awards because they deserve it. The cast is phenomenal and the plot is brilliant. The pacing and emotion just blows me away. Not since Battlestar Galactica has there been such a perfect sci
-fi series in my opinion.

Please cut the ridiculous Glee or one of the other stupid doctor/cop series as pointed out above. SAVE V!!!!!! IT IS TOO FLAWLESS TO LOSE!!!!

KEEP. It’s been quite entertaining, and the season finale was, frankly, quite brutal. They can do good if they take it in the right direction (and as the first comment says, they’ll need fresh writers for that), using the cast they have, and where they left the story.

KEEP! I LOVE this show despite my disappointment in not getting a Diana vs Anna brawl. This is one of the few shows I actually look forward to. I will beg for this one to be kept and I know I am not alone.

Season 2 finale was awesome and it opened so many doors for the series to evolve! I know it was sad to see Jane Badler go but what did you all expect? Anna to be defeated so easy and early on? Come on!

CUT. Season 2 was a complete disaster and the finale was a joke. I have never seen a show throw so much spaghetti at the wall in a desperate attempt to see what would stick. Every week something got introduced only to be forgotten the next week in favor of something else. The writing on this show has become abysmal. At this point I dont think there is any way to salvage it. Put it out of it’s misery.

Most definitely KEEP! I am a huge fan of V since it first came out in 1985. If ABC cancels V than it cancels out their own channel…at least at my house. I will NEVER watch anything on ABC again becaus I am sick and tired of every show I like being canceled by them.

Keep this show…..and let the writers know that if Lisa’s skin can be put on another body, so can Diana’s, so I say the person killed WAS NOT Diana, but a sacrificial follower and Diana is alive and well!!!

As melodramatic as the old V series was, it was about “bigger” things than this current series has ever managed. I had high hopes and I love Elizabeth Mitchell. I still stay keep it. I’ve watched it all along, still hoping for something better. Maybe they’ll get there in season 3.